There were 190 Pokemon

What follows is the current state of my research on the 190 Pokemon theory, based on the index list for Generation 1. If you don't know what this is - Pokemon of Generation 1 were not put into the original game's code in a distinguishable or logical order, like the Pokedex or alphabetical order, but instead in a seemingly random manner. Rhydon is Pokemon #001 and the last one, Victreebel, is #190. Yes, only 151 spaces of this encoded list are filled with usable Pokemon data, and the remaining 39 spots are corrupt data, which, if the games are manipulated correctly, summons forth the infamous Missingno glitch.

Shigeki Morimoto confirmed that indeed 190 Pokemon were originally planned for Generation 1, but some of the designs were scrapped and "saved for later". That means that the index list once contained data of all these 190 Pokemon and 39 of them got scrapped.

What is also confirmed is that Rhydon, #001 on the index list, was indeed the first Pokemon ever designed - suggesting that the index list is actually a chronological order of Pokemon designs, making Victreebel the last Pokemon design finalized for the game.

These main facts bring me to the questions I'm trying to answer, that is:
-what was the identity of these 39 scrapped Pokemon?
-were there any relationships (or lack thereof) between different Pokemon species that don't seem obvious now?
-how did the development process of the first Pokemon games looked like from the creature design perspective?

I'm going to point out the areas of my research, which are as follows: location of a Pokemon on the index list, Pokemon's membership in the evolutionary line, Pokemon cries. The latter is important, because nine of the Missingno have their cry data intact.

Before I delve into analysis, one more thing of note about the 39 Missingno is that if you transfer them to a Generation 2 game, they come out as Generation 2 Pokemon, as per the index list on Bulbapedia. Contrary to what some people think, it doesn't mean that these resulting Generation 2 Pokemon were made for Red and Green, nor does that mean that they were put in those spots on the list. Rather, it's the way Generation 2 games interpret the trash data sent, probably based on their own index list.

Development periods

Analysis of the Generation 1 index list shows that the seemingly random, probably chronological order can in fact be divided into several development periods. I call them as follows:

1. Early development period (001 Rhydon - 040 Chansey)
2. Referential Period A (041 Machoke - 078 Krabby)*
3. Two-stage lines period (082 Vulpix - 105 Vaporeon)
4. Referential Period B (106 Machop - 132 Snorlax)
5. Late development period (133 Magikarp - 190 Victreebel)
*The gap between these two periods results from the fact that numbers 079, 080 and 081 are occupied by the Missingno.

I divide these periods based on the relationships between species of the same evolutionary lines. Most Pokemon between numbers 041 and 078 have their evolutions or preevolutions between numbers 106 and 144 - these two periods reference each other, therefore they are called referential A and B. For example, Psyduck is 047 and Golduck is 128, Drowzee is 048 and Hypno is 129. A similar relationship could be seen between Pokemon from the early and late development periods.

The third period I differentiate, the two-stage lies period is a distinct portion of the index list, mostly occupied by the two-stage evolutionary lines like Pikachu, Sandshrew and Horsea lines, suggesting that both stages of these lines were designed in tandem. A similar trend could be seen in most of the late period, though on a more inconsistent basis.

I'd like to take each of those periods and analyze them separately.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT PERIOD (001 Rhydon - 040 Chansey)

As I mentioned, Rhydon is confirmed to be the first Pokemon ever designed. It has characteristics of a kaijuu monster, as do many of the early Pokemon: Kangaskhan, Nidoking, Gengar, Gyarados, even Ivysaur. What is notable about this period is that they experimented with the concept of evolution quite early on. Nidoran Male is 003 while Nidoking is 007 - note that Nidorino is nowhere to be seen. On that note, they also experimented with gender, since Nidoran Female and Nidoqueen are 015 and 016, respectively. Again - Nidorina is not there.

Other examples of evolution include Exeggcute and Exeggutor (the latter being the earlier one), Rhyhorn as the first preevolution of the already existing Pokemon, Gengar and Gastly, Arcanine and Growlithe, Spearow and Fearow, Slowbro and Slowpoke. Most of these are quite apart from each orher.

Of note is the extremely low amount of Missingno - only 031 and 032 are scrapped data. Game Freak must have liked their early designs. There is an early concept art called "Karabajio vs. Mimmi", showing a battle between what appears to be early Blastoise and Staryu (028 and 027 respectively), "Caravaggio" being an obvious nod to the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, based on the Italian Renaissance painters.

On 021 there is Mew, which was infamously put into the game's code in secret, at the very last moment, after the development tools were taken out of the game, so probably late into 1995. This Pokemon is also the first name to be trademarked (as per Bulbapedia), with the application being submitted in 1990. This strange discrepancy can be explained as follows: Mew was designed early into the game's development, certainly before Mewtwo (number 130), but was scrapped along with other 39 of the Pokemon. It was actually put back into the game on the first spot that was available - 021. It is unknown what Pokemon that was before it was scrapped, but it being an early spot, it might've been Mew all along. That, or the story about Mew being put into the game two weeks before game's development was finished is a myth for the sake of marketing.

Most of the Pokemon are single-stage at this point. There are no three-stage lines.

REFERENTIAL PERIOD A (041 Machoke - 078 Krabby)

I begin this period with Machoke not because it starts a different trend in relationships between the species on its own, but instead because the later referential period B contains very few Pokemon related to the Pokemon before Machoke, and very many related to the Pokemon of this development period. This period also doesn't contain any Pokemon evolving to or from the ones created before, the only exception being Golem (049) evolving from Graveler (039), but that instead might signify that these were once unrelated species.

Actually, none of the Pokemon in this period relate to one another in an evolutionary sense. Instead, many seem to be equivalents of one another - Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan (043 and 044), Magmar and Electabuzz (051 and 053), Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos (073, 074, 075). The rest of the Pokemon seem to be random single designs. Tauros (060) is followed by three Missingno. Going off the equivalence pattern, it could be argued that one of them could have been Miltank.

As for the Missingno, there is a nine of them. Interestingly though, two of them have cry data intact. 067 is based on the Nidoran Male (003) cry, as well as Nidorino and Sandshrew line which were designed later. The other one, the more interesting 069, shares its cry with Tauros, Zubat, Golbat, Squirtle, Wartortle, and another Missingno that I'm going to cover in the later part of this post. Based on the patterns I believe this Missingno might have once been Crobat. I'm going to analyze this after I get to the referential period B with Zubat and Golbat.

The period ends with Krabby, which is followed by three Missingno and we don't know if they belong to this or the next period. 079 and 081 have cry data as well, 079 is the first Pokemon of its base cry in the index list, and shares it only with Rattata line designed way later. 081 is based on Pidgey (036) and shares its cry also with Poliwag line, Ditto, as well as Jigglypuff line.

Most Pokemon are still single-stage, very few evolutionary lines, no three-stage lines present.

TWO-STAGE LINES PERIOD (082 Vulpix - 105 Vaporeon)

This period has a recognizable pattern which makes it also the most distinct of all the development periods. Entire two-stage lines are put one after another - Vulpix, Pikachu, Kabuto, Horsea, Sandshrew, Omanyte, and Jigglypuff lines. None of these is related to any Pokemon put into the game before (or after) with one notable exception, that being Dratini and Dragonair.

Dragonite had already been put into the game's code (066), but the difference in designs might very well signify that the relationship between these might have been an afterthought during the later stages of development. What strengthens this theory is that there would be absolutely no three-stage lines until number 111.

For that same reason I'm skeptical towards the theory that the recently reveled Raichu's lost evolution, Gorochu, occupied any of the Missingno slots. If Gorochu even passed the sketching phase and was put into the game's code, it must have been in a different period.

Four Missingno belong in this period, 086 and 087, as well as 094 and 095. The pattern tells us that these must have been two self-contained evolutionary lines. Both of the latter one have cry data intact, based on Ivysaur's cry (009) and shared with the rest of the Bulbasaur line, Dratini line including Dragonite, Pikachu and another Missingno.

This relatively short period ends with Eevee and its three evolutions, being the sole case of branched evolution in the entire generation. Still, it is a branched two-stage line.

This period ends with a vastly increased amount of evolutionary lines, which might have in turn inspired the creators to design evolutions and preevolutions to the many of the single-stage monsters created before.

REFERENTIAL PERIOD B (106 Machop - 132 Snorlax)

Just as Machoke started the referential period A, so does the B period fittingly begin with its preevolution. Although the main pattern in this period is referencing the monsters created in the period A, it's more chaotic and prone to breaking patterns. It's apparent almost immediately, since Machop is followed not only by Ekans and Paras (108 and 109, while Arbok and Parasect are 045 and 046), but also by Zubat, which is the only one of the bunch that is not a preevolution of already existing Pokemon.

Not only that, though - along with three distinct examples that I'll describe later, Zubat would be one of the very few Pokemon in this period not related to an already designed monster. This leads me to believe that an evolution of Zubat was indeed created before that, as I mentioned before it most likely was Crobat, which in turn would explain why Zubat and Crobat have similar body types - Zubat being just a miniature version of Crobat - while Golbat, designed later, is an obvious outlier in that regard.

As I mentioned before, most Pokemon in this period are related to the ones from period A, hence the naming. This relation between the two periods is so strong that in some instances two members of an evolutionary line spread apart are close to two members of another evolutionary line, suggesting the manner in which the later creations were designed. Apart from the Ekans-Paras example above, worthy of note is that both Psyduck and Drowzee (047 and 048) as well as Golduck and Hypno (128 and 129) are right by each other.

A crucial innovation takes place in this period, namely three-stage evolutionary lines. If it is true that Dragonite's relation to its preevolutions had been an afterthought, then the first instance of a three-stage evolutionary line would be Poliwhirl and Poliwrath (110 and 111), related to already designed Poliwag (071). This almost immediately inspired the creation of the two three-stage bug lines, Weedle (112, 113, 114) and Caterpie (123, 124, 125), which is surprising considering that Satoshi Tajiri was inspired to create Pokemon based on bug collecting in the first place.

Poliwag and bug lines are not the only ones with three stages however. Machop line is completed with Machamp at number 126, and if the aforementioned Crobat theory is true, then Golbat at number 130 would also be a third member of its line to be created.

Caterpie and Weedle are the only two Pokemon in this period that are unrelated to any Pokemon created beforehand, with the exception of Zubat whose case I covered before, Mewtwo, which was certainly created after Mew, and Snorlax, who is suggested from the design documents to have had a preevolution called Kabiin. It is unknown what index number it was.

There are four Missingno in this period. Missingno 127 is notable for being the only Pokemon other than Rhydon to share its cry base, suggesting that it might have been a related third evolution, as is the case with some Pokemon in this period.

LATE DEVELOPMENT PERIOD (133 Magikarp - 190 Victreebel)

This period begins with Magikarp, the first new design that is related to a Pokemon from the early development period (Gyarados being 022). This theme prevails through most of this period, with only few exceptions being related to Pokemon from a different period: Kingler, Weezing, Persian, Magnemite, Geodude being the borderline example. Every other Pokemon either evolves to or from a Pokemon from the early development period, or is a part of a brand new evolutionary line.

At first the developers focused on expanding and finishing the existing families (Gastly, Abra, Pidgey, Bulbasaur, Nidoran lines being the examples of three-stage lines), then opting for creating brand new lines more resembling real life animals (Goldeen, Ponyta, Rattata lines). At the very end of this period Oddish and Bellsprout lines were designed, with Victreebel marking the final design ever put into the game code, barring aforementioned Mew, should that myth turn out to be true.

Most Missingno come from this period, amouting to seventeen. We are sure that Missingno 174 used to be a scrap design of a Pokemon tentatively called Dragon4, probably deleted due to redundant design and the creation of a similar Pokemon, Charizard, shortly after. Placement of Missingno 159, 160, 161 and 162 inbetween entire two-stage lines suggest that these too were two-stage lines. Missingno 182, 183 and 184 (two fossil and a ghost Missingno respectively) placed right before the two plant lines might imply that Hoppip line was planned to be put there.

Missingno 137 shares the base cry with Bulbasaur line, Dratini line including Dragonite, Pikachu as well as two Missingno from the two-stage lines period. Missingno 181, probably the most curious of all, shares its base cry with Tauros, Zubat lines, Squirtle, Wartortle, and Missingno 069.

Which brings me to the very interesting topic of Charmander and Squirtle lines. As I said previously, Blastoise has number 028, quite early into the index list, while the rest of its line appears near the very end. The way Squirtle and Wartortle are places is also very strange - both are put inbetween members of the new Charmander family, in a way that the Pokemon of the two lines appear intertwined. Had Blastoise been designed along with the rest of its line, and not in the early stages of development, following the alternating pattern it would be put on the spot number 181, which is a Missingno.

That same Missingno's cry, as mentioned, shares its base with Squirtle and Wartortle, curiously though Blastoise's cry is different, as are its features. Wartortle upon evolution loses many of the characteristic features such as feathery ears, mammalian tail, dark complexion and a distinct belly pattern. These facts convince me that Missingno 181 is a leftover from a Pokemon that Wartortle once evolved into before it was decided that it shall instead evolve into a favored early design of Caravaggio, now renamed Kamex. This is perhaps the most interesting finding in this entire research, and how fitting that I end on that note.

Obviously the questions, especially pertaining to the identity of the 39 Missingno remain mostly unanswered. But using pattern recognition, perhaps what I presented here is all that we can hypothesize about with substantial basis in reality. And, in the process of laying all that out, I can say with certainty that through this digital archeology I've learned a lot about the development of these games. The research will continue, and hopefully we can learn more about the mysteries of the development of Pokemon Red and Green from the creators themselves in the foreseeable future.

To summarize, I think that at least the following Pokemon were scrapped: Miltank, Kabiin (Munchlax), Crobat, Rhydon2 (Rhyperior), Dragon4, Wartortle2, Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff.